Los Angeles 1984

The Los Angeles Games of 1984 brought some Hollywood hoopla to the Olympic arena, most memorably in a spectacular Opening Ceremony featuring 85 grand pianos, marching bands and a rocket-propelled man flying around the stadium. It also proved the Games could be run at a profit and attract big crowds across the sporting spectrum, best demonstrated when more than 100,000 spectators showed up to watch France beat Brazil 2-0 in the men’s football final.

Key Facts

Opening date:

28 July 1984

Closing date:

12 August 1984

Host nation:

United States of America (USA)

Cauldron lit by:

Rafter Johnson (decathlete)

Number of nations:

140

Number of athletes:

6,829 (5,263 men, 1,566 women)

Number of sports:

23

Number of events:

221

Medal Tally

Nations

1

United States of America

83

61

30

2

Romania

20

16

17

3

Federal Republic of Germany

17

19

23

4

Peoples Republic of China

15

8

9

5

Italy

14

6

12

14

Australia

4

8

12

Note: Medal tally as at end of Games

Like Moscow, the Los Angeles Olympics suffered a multi-nation boycott. The Soviet Union led the protest, winning the support of most Eastern European nations, including the powerful teams from East Germany, Bulgaria, Hungary and Poland. While drastically depleting the elite depth in some events, the boycott did not impact the Games to the same degree of 1980. A record 140 nations participated, with more than 6,700 athletes in action.

Australia at these Games

Australia’s 1984 team was twice the size of its team for the calamitous 1980 Games. The 249-strong team, comprising 174 men and a record 75 women, combined to win 24 medals: four gold, eight silver and 12 bronze. It was an uplifting result for Australia. The 24 medals represented the best medal haul since 1960. The gold medal tally was twice that of its combined total from the past two Games, though notably only half the total of New Zealand’s surprisingly successful team, which won eight gold.

Equestrian star Wayne Roycroft was the flagbearer at the Opening Ceremony, making history after his dad, Bill, had the same honour in 1968. Weightlifter Dean Lukin, who emerged as a national hero during the Games, carried the flag in the Closing Ceremony.

Australia’s four gold medals came in four different sports. In cycling, Australia enjoyed its first two-wheeled success since 1956 when the 4000m team pursuit quartet of Michael Grenda, Kevin Nichols, Michael Turtur and Dean Woods triumphed. Jon Sieben stunned the swimming world by defeating Germany’s superstar, Michael Gross, to win the 200m butterfly crown. Athlete Glynis Nunn scored a courageous and memorable win in the heptathlon, running a personal best in the final event, the 800m, to secure gold. Lastly, weightlifter Lukin lifted national spirits – not to mention a few hundred kilograms in competition – in winning the super-heavyweight division. The South Australian tuna fisherman remains Australia’s only weightlifting gold medallist.

A promising sign for Australia’s future was the spread of medals across the sports. Australia won medals in swimming, athletics, canoe/kayak, cycling, rowing, sailing and shooting. The bronze medal for the women’s coxed four (Karen Brancourt, Susan Chapman, Margot Foster, Robyn Grey-Gardner and Susan Lee) was Australia’s first women’s rowing medal. Another first was Pattie Dench’s bronze in sport pistol shooting. At the time, it was celebrated as Australia’s first shooting medal, but years later Donald Mackintosh would be discovered to have won two medals at the Paris 1900 Olympics. It was Australia’s first pistol medal and first medal for a female shooter. Even better was the fact Dench was 52 years old. She remains Australia’s oldest women’s medallist.

A few athletes who would become household names in Australia made their Olympic debuts in 1984. In basketball, youngster Andrew Gaze made the team, with his Olympian dad, Lindsay as coach. Boxer Jeff Fenech reached the quarter-finals of the flyweight division. He would become a popular professional world champion. Swimmer Lisa Curry (now Curry-Kenny) had a best finish of fourth in the 200m individual medley. Marathon runners Rob de Castella (fifth) and Lisa Martin (seventh), diver Valerie Beddoe (fifth in the 10m platform) and the men’s water polo team (fifth) were among many strong performances.

History

The Los Angeles Games of 1984 brought some Hollywood hoopla to the Olympic arena, most memorably in a spectacular Opening Ceremony featuring 85 grand pianos, marching bands and a rocket-propelled man flying around the stadium. It also proved the Games could be run at a profit and attract big crowds across the sporting spectrum, best demonstrated when more than 100,000 spectators showed up to watch France beat Brazil 2-0 in the men’s football final.

Like Moscow, the Los Angeles Olympics suffered a multi-nation boycott. The Soviet Union led the protest, winning the support of most Eastern European nations, including the powerful teams from East Germany, Bulgaria, Hungary and Poland. While drastically depleting the elite depth in some events, the boycott did not impact the Games to the same degree of 1980. A record 140 nations participated, with more than 6,700 athletes in action.

The US dominated the events, winning a record 83 gold medals - three more than the Soviet Union won at their own boycott-marred Games four years earlier. Romania and the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) were second and third respectively.

The surprise was China, the Asian giant emerging as an Olympic power by placing fourth on the medal table with 15 gold, eight silver and nine bronze medals. In fact, China won its first Olympic gold in the first Olympic competition of the Los Angeles Games – a victory to Xu Haifeng in the free pistol, 50 metres. China’s star, however, was gymnast Li Ning. He won three gold, two silver and a bronze. Another star was Lang Ping, known as the Iron Hammer, who led China to the women’s volleyball gold. Another hero of their volleyball win was Jiang Ying, who became an Australian citizen and a leading coach in the country.

The most celebrated athlete of 1984 was American Carl Lewis, who repeated Jesse Owens’ 1936 feat of winning four gold medals in the 100, 200m, 4x100m relay and long jump. His teammate Ed Moses won the 400m hurdles, keeping his 100-plus winning streak intact. Moses also won the 1976 gold in his event. Great Britain’s Sebastian Coe became the first man to successfully defend his 1500m crown. The Olympic program continued to expand, with 21 new events added, 12 of them for women. Most notable was the first women’s marathon, won by American Jean Benoit. Until this Olympics, the longest women’s race ever run at the Games was 1500m. Another curious debut was synchronised swimming, the often-maligned physically and technically demanding aquatics discipline. Basketball legend Michael Jordan won a gold medal with the US team.

Games Trivia

Emblem

The LA emblem represents excellence in competition. The star is a symbol of aspiration and the colours blue, white and red were in part chosen for their symbolism of first, second and third place. The repetition of the star shape connotes the spirit of competition between equal physical forms while the horizontal bars signify the speed with which contestants pursue excellence.

Mascot

The official mascot for the 1984 Summer Games was Sam the Olympic Eagle. The bald eagle is the national bird of the United States and Sam was named after the American icon Uncle Sam.

The AOC is a non-government, not-for-profit organisation, committed to the development of youth and sport. It is our responsibility to select, send and fund Australian Teams to the Olympic Games.

This is achieved by the support of our sponsors, contributions from the Australian Olympic Foundation (AOF), fundraising at corporate events and the backing of State and Territory Governments who donate to our Olympic Team Appeal.

The Australian Olympic Committee thanks all of our partners for their generous support of the Olympic athletes.